Medicall Ambulance Ltd (Represented by Management Support Services (IRL) Ltd) v Aidan Ryan

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 06 January 2020
• Judgment citation (vLex): [2020] 1 JIEC 0607
• Docket Number: FULL RECOMMENDATION DETERMINATION NO.PWD201 ADJ-00021258 CA-00028062-002
• Date: 2020
• Year: 2020
• Court: Labour Court (Ireland)

PARTIES:

Medicall Ambulance Limited (Represented by Management Support Services (IRL) Ltd)

and

Aidan Ryan

FULL RECOMMENDATION

PW/19/64

DETERMINATION NO.PWD201

ADJ-00021258 CA-00028062-002

Labour Court

DIVISION:

Chairman: Mr Haugh

Employer Member: Mr Murphy

Worker Member: Mr McCarthy

SECTION 7(1), PAYMENT OF WAGES ACT, 1991

SUBJECT:

1 1. Appeal of Adjudication Officer Decision Nos. ADJ-00021258/CA-00028062-002.

BACKGROUND:

2 2. This is an appeal of an Adjudication Officer's Decision made pursuant to Section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991. The appeal was heard by the Labour Court on 5th December 2019 in accordance with Section 44 of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015. The following is the Court's Determination:-

DETERMINATION:

Background to the Appeal

3 This is an appeal on behalf of Medicall Ambulance Limited (‘the Respondent’) from a decision of an Adjudication Officer (ADJ-00021258/CA-00028062-002, dated 11 September 2019) under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 (‘the Act’). The Notice of Appeal was received by the Court on 27 September 2019. The Court heard the appeal in Dublin on 5 December 2019.

4 Mr Aidan Ryan (‘the Complainant’) referred his complaint under the Act to the Workplace Relations Commission on 24 April 2019. The period encompassed by the complaint is therefore 25 October 2018 to 24 April 2019. With effect from 1 January 2019, the Complainant has been paid a basic hourly rate of €14.00 (i.e. €140.00 per regular ten-hour shift).

5 The Complainant's claim is for payment for on-call hours from 7.00 pm to 10.00 pm on each weekend he was rostered to work in the aforementioned six-month period. It is common case that the Complainant is required to hold a contact phone for those three hours at the end of his weekend shift although he is not required to be on the Respondent's premises for that period. Whilst present at work for his 9.00 am to 7.00 pm shift at weekends, the Complainant is the first point of contact for all telephone calls that come to the Respondent. After his shift ends at 7.00 pm, that responsibility shifts to the ambulance personnel who are on duty until 10.00 pm. At that point the night shift takes over and becomes the first point of contact.

Discussion and Decision

6 The Complainant's terms and conditions of employment are comprehensively set out in a nineteen-page written contract dated 31 August 2016. That contract does not make provision for any additional payment to the Complainant in respect of the...